Intake Gasket Leak

2001 3.4 46k miles

A couple months ago my wife was out on the Interstate and the low coolant light came on. She was about 1/2 mile from the dealer so she stopped by and the told her there was nothing wrong and they topped it off with fluid.

After reading some posts here I'm beginning to wonder if the intake gasket may be leaking. After all, you shouldn't lose coolant for no reason. I didn't notice any milky substance in my oil or under the oil cap.





What do you think?

[smokinAMD]

Sure looks like it.

[Naich]

Definately sounds like it to me man...

That is it. I garountee. Take it to the dealer and tell them agian. Have them pressure test it and they will agree its not just "normal" seapage.

[brim]

oh holy poop you don't even want to see mine

lol

ah bunny it i'll take a pic when i can

take that, turn it into almost like a brown paste, that'd be mine

and also, my oil's fine, so that it don't say much

lol yea thats the leak, exactly what mine looked at......when you go down there tell them you have the lower intake gasket leak........

So how quickly or soon should I worry about this? The car has 46k miles on it now, so it's not under warranty.

Obviously "if" I do bring it to the dealer I'll try to put up a stink and see if I can get a goodwill warranty. Is the stealer going to charge me to diagnose something that is already obviously apparent?

Also, if I do decide to fix it, and if I can't get any help from GM, how hard is it to fix myself and how much is the gasket? I'm a pretty decent driveway mechanic, so I think I should be able to change it myself. Is there a "how-to" around here?

[smokinAMD]

Originally posted by ez4u2chere@Jun 8 2004, 08:55 AM
So how quickly or soon should I worry about this? The car has 46k miles on it now, so it's not under warranty.

Obviously "if" I do bring it to the dealer I'll try to put up a stink and see if I can get a goodwill warranty. Is the stealer going to charge me to diagnose something that is already obviously apparent?

Also, if I do decide to fix it, and if I can't get any help from GM, how hard is it to fix myself and how much is the gasket? I'm a pretty decent driveway mechanic, so I think I should be able to change it myself. Is there a "how-to" around here?

Thats a pretty major fix, you have to rip apart the top half of the engine to get to that. Not only that, but if you screw something up, you can easily toast your entire engine. Now if you have the dealership do it, thier work is waranteed (a year), so if it happens again or they don't do it right, you get it fixed for free.

This happened to me, I got bit by my first intake leak about a year ago, this febuary it went bad again. Luckily, I got it fixed again for free. GM has revised the gasket since it first happened to me, so hopefully it won't happen again.

[jamcllw]

It's not hard to do. Its just very time consuming. It took me and a friend of mine a span of 2 days on and off working on it.
I found a set of the updated gaskets on ebay for $20 shipped to the door. If you go to the dealer to get them they're going to cost you $50 or more. And I got valve cover gaskets for $10 shipped also on ebay. Make sure you get the updated gaskets because they have small metal cylinders around the bolt holes that prevent you from overtightening the bolts and cracking the gasket.
If you do decide to do it yourself make sure you take your time and label everything.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...item=7904381921

If you bring it in like that, they shouldn't charge you to diagnose it. Just ask a mech to come out for a minute and show them the leak. They can tell by looking at that, it's a common problem.
I got mine goodwilled for half of it, so you should be able to get that, too, if you have a good relationship with your dealer. That'll only work up to 60,000 miles though, so don't wait too long. It cost me ~$200 for my half, since they have to use warranty hours for goodwill work.

Just so I can get my ducks lined up, what do I need to do? What's the process?

Do I just take it in, tell them I have the leak, have them look at it, then tell them I want GM to pay for it? dunno?

[ptrudel]

the worst thing u can do is go in and start bitchin about it...then u def. won't get good service...just go in, and explain that this is a common problem and u feel that it is gm's RESPONSIBILITY to fix it, or at least help out with costs...don't go sayin it's gm's fault...

[jamcllw]

Call oldsmobile and talk to one of there reps about it. Tell them that you know its a common problem and would like get it repaired with there assistance. Your probably going to have to get it diagnosed. I don't think a tech going out to your car to look at the motor justifies it as definatly a LIM leak. Your most likely going to have to pay for the diagnostic on it. After the diagnostic call GM back up and tell them you got the diagnostic on it and now what? Most likely they'll call the dealership and tell them to fix it with GM footing 1/2 the bill.

Take it in, say "I'm pretty sure I have a lower intake manifold gasket leak, could you have a mechanic come out here when he has a minute and quick look at it?" They shouldn't have a problem doing that. Point on the stains, tell about the low coolant incident. Tell them you know it's a common problem, and you'd like to take care of it before it gets much worse. They should agree with you that that's your problem.
Then be nice about it, but say you know it's a problem, and with your mileage, you really don't think you should have to pay for all of it. See if they offer goodwill money. If not, ask really nicely if that's something they can do for you. If they say no, call GM at 1-800-442-OLDS and ask them for money. They'll want you to have had your car serviced at the dealer in the past.
Good luck!

[sound_xtreme]

mine actually puddled on the lower part. i had to fill it almost daily towards the end. get it fixed soon as ya can. its really bad for the motor. my lifters actually started ticking because of the lack of lubrication the coolant caused. thats never a good thing.

Oh no, I wasn't going to go in bitchin about it. After all, it's not the dealers fault. They only sell and service the vehicles, not design and build them.

The car was serviced through the dealer for the entire warranty. So for the past 10k miles I've only had 3 oil changes and they have been at a Havoline Express.

The dealership I bought the car from, and had it serviced with seem to be pretty good. I had the rotor problem and they replaced the rotors but I was going to have to suck up for the pads. I raised a stink about it and they ended up paying the entire bill and they detailed the car before I picked it up.

However, this is the same dealership who topped off the fluid for my wife the day the coolant light came on and said there was nothing wrong. I thought it was odd they didn't charge her anything to look at it or top it off. No wonder we didn't get a receipt for anything.

I'm going to try to take some time off this week and bring it in.

Thanks for all the help, and anything else you have please throw my way.

on this topic, I went to check my oil today because I'm at about 2500 since the last change and it didn't seem too look right and then took the cap off and saw the milkey substance of DEATH. So, I looked at the sides and I have almost identical spots of leakage as ez...I have an extended warranty on my car from the Nissan dealer I bought the car from...upto 99k miles...should I just roll it in there and tell 'em to fix it or should I go to a GM dealer, this is my first ever warrantied car, all my other cars were fix-it-yourselfers. So, I'm not too familiar with how this warranty stuff works.

[BLK03GXS]

Jus take it in and tell em its broken, give me a cutosy car, and fix it.
Thats about it
refrance how hard it is to change... not sure cus i havent done one myself, however it shouldnt be too hard, cus its just an intake mannifold. :rolleyes:

[Redog]

This seems to be a pretty common problem.

I replaced my manifold with the P&P upper and lower about a year ago. My mech replaced the gaskets but he had to cut them. Does anybody think I beat this porbelm this way?

Originally posted by Redog@Jun 8 2004, 11:14 PM
This seems to be a pretty common problem.

I replaced my manifold with the P&P upper and lower about a year ago. My mech replaced the gaskets but he had to cut them. Does anybody think I beat this porbelm this way?

Yea, u prolly did. It all depends pretty much on the gaskets u have. The ones ur mechanic got may have been revised versions etc.... Just keep a close eye on it, and if u do notice seapage fix asap and u wont hurt anything. But none-the-less I'm willing to bet ur in the clear.